The Commissioner of Police, as represented by the head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) Sydney James, on Monday failed in a bid to secure the forfeiture of more than $7 million in local currency and millions more in foreign currencies that the police say they unearthed during a search of the home of a Berbice resident as part of a money laundering probe.
The application alleged that moneychanger Mohamed Jamalodeen Nazmodin, the respondent, had been engaged in the business of buying and selling foreign currency in breach of the Dealers in Foreign Currency (Licensing) Act.
Ruling on the application, High Court judge Navindra Singh noted, among other things, the state’s failure at establishing the offence of money laundering against Nazmodin, and the purported warrant being void. He also said he viewed the warrant as being “very suspicious,” given the manner in which it was obtained.
